Burden Bearing
Paul has spent five chapters telling us how the grace of Christ completely fulfilled and replaced the Mosaic Law and as such has given us a relationship with God that is fundamentally different and better than what the Mosaic Law could ever do. Paul has eradicated any justification of religion or religious thinking, even that which claims to be about Jesus; and he has done so with highly intellectual arguments laced with such passionate emotion that there is no way one could correctly conclude a relationship with God is accessed or matured in any other way other than by His grace through our faith. Religion and religious thinking have no appropriate or constructive place in the life of a believer.
However, in chapter 6 Paul switches gears and moves from his presentation and defense of the doctrine of Grace, to instead focus entirely on how that Grace should govern our day-to-day lives. Paul shows us this life and relationship we have been given is not something to be abused or casually considered, but rather it should define everything about us!
Last week Jason Gilbert took you through Galatians 6:1 which makes it clear that God expects us to help restore our brothers and sisters in Christ who have been overcome with sin, back into a healthy relationship with God and the church. To restore people should be an obvious expectation of the grace that restored us. If we truly understand the Grace of Christ and all that it cost Him to purchase all that it has given us, then there would be no way possible for us to rationalize anything other than that we are obligated to give and do for others as He has given and done for us!
With that same kind of thinking, Paul then explains another expectation of God that is revealed in the Grace of Christ towards us, except this time, it comes with the clarity that the expectations of God’s grace towards us are not only implied obligations but very clear authoritative commands. Paul writes,
2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
As you see with that comma in the middle of the verse, Galatians 6:2 is made up of two key parts, and as such, to truly understand how those parts come together we need to first look at them individually. The first part I want us to look at is actually the second part of the verse.
A CLARIFIED TRUTH - “AND SO FULFILL THE LAW OF CHRIST”
There are two important clarifications I need to make about the truth “and so fulfill the Law of Christ.” The first important clarification is,
(1) The “LAW of Christ” is the eternal purposes, standards, and commands of God that are fully manifested in the life and teachings of Jesus, and as such, are authoritatively declared and clarified in the New Testament. All mankind will be judged by the standard of this law.
This is not to say that the Law of Christ can’t be seen in the Old Testament, but rather that you can’t know if you’re seeing and understanding it correctly without the New Testament declaration and clarification of it.
Throughout history, people have criticized those who preach that Christ fulfilled and replaced the Mosaic Law, as people who are teaching that there is no law for the children of God. That is a totally incorrect and sensational accusation. There is a very clear law for the children of God, and it’s called the Law of Christ.
The only other appearance of this phrase is in 1 Corinthians 9:21 where Paul states, “21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.” However, the Law of Christ is also called the Law of Faith (Romans 3:27), the Law of the Spirit (Romans 8:2), the Law of Liberty (James 1:25; 2:12), and the Royal Law (James 2:8).
In each way of referring to the Law of Christ, it is clear that we are being directed to something that has replaced the Law of Moses. Let me be clear, the Law of Christ is NOT the Mosaic Law, nor some sort of improved version of it. Paul beat this drum so hard in Galatians and his other letters that it would blow out the amplifiers in our speaker system! Just because you can draw some points of similarity between the two doesn’t mean one is from the other. Obviously, the Mosaic law contains testimonies of the purposes, standards, and commands of God because it’s from God, but that doesn’t mean the Law of Christ is the new and improved version of it so that we are somehow still under the Mosaic Law, just with a different name. Remember that Galatians 3:19 tells us the Mosaic Law was added because of the sins of the Jewish people. It was not God’s plan for His people, but rather it was given as a consequence, and as such, given as a temporary “add-on.” When you understand the Mosaic Law for what it actually is, then you are left with the one conclusion that it’s a great thing that the Law of Christ is a total replacement for it! You don’t want to live under a consequence of the Israelites' failure to trust God but rather the reward of Christ’s work on the cross!
In contrast with the temporary Law God gave Moses for the Jewish people, the Law of Christ is the universal Law of God that has eternally existed, but couldn’t be fully revealed until Christ, who is The Law, was revealed! Jesus is the King (Revelation 17:14) and as such, HE is that Law. For instance, this is why Jesus could rightly declare that He is Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8, Mark 2:28, Luke 6:5) because He Himself is in fact The LAW! He is the purposes, standards, and commands of God. He is the literal WORD of GOD (John 1)!
Therefore, as He is Himself THE LAW, all that He did and taught is the manifestation of that eternal Law, and thus why the New Testament is the authoritative and final revelation of that Law.
In addition, because Jesus is the Law, we are now no longer under the Mosaic Law, but rather under the leadership of the Spirit who fills us and leads us to live in submission to Christ who is the Law! (John 16:13, Romans 8:13-14, Galatians 5:18)
Finally, if Jesus Himself is the Law, then the purposes, standards, and commands of God that were revealed by Him are not only what is expected of all who follow Him, but they are also the manifestation of the very life that God is! As such, Christ came to save us, not into a relationship with God as His children in some figurative way, but rather in totality, so that His life, and thus the purposes, standards, and commands of His life, would become our life as well.
The world is separated from God and His life and thus the world does not live in, nor under, the purposes, standards, and commands of Christ. However, all who have been saved, have been brought into the life of God, and as such we not only know his purposes, standards, and commands, but we have access and power to live in them. Listen to what Paul wrote to the believers in Colossae,
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old
self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian,
slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. 12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. (Colossians 3:1-14)
The New Testament is filled with passages just like this, so much so, it overtly and with tremendous clarity, reveals what is manifested in Christ alone, that is, it clearly teaches us the Law of Christ which is the purposes, standards, and commands of God that are manifested in Christ’s life and teachings and as such fully and clearly revealed in the New Testament. For more read, Matthew 5-7; 22:34-40, Luke 12:48, John 13:34, 1 Corinthians 13, Galatians 5:16-26, Philippians 3:18-21.
(2) To FULFILL the Law of Christ doesn’t mean we earn our salvation, but rather that we are actively living in it.
The Bible says our salvation is not only unearned by us (Ephesians 2:8-9), but also unsought by us (Romans 3:11)! The Bible teaches us, that despite the fact to be separated from God is death and to be united with God is life, mankind still doesn’t seek God. Nonetheless, God not only sent His only Son to pay the penalty of our sins and create the opportunity for us to be rescued from the curse of eternal separation from God (eternal death), but He also sent the Holy Spirit to bring us to repentance and faith (John 16:8-10) so that we could receive and live in the eternal life that is knowing God (John 17:3)! As such, everything about our salvation is a gift! The point is, the New Testament, including Galatians itself, makes it abundantly and exceedingly clear that we are totally incapable of earning the right to have, maintain, or mature in a relationship with God, therefore, “fulfill” in Galatians 6:2 cannot be interrupted as a suggestion that we can.
What it means then, is that when you and I bear one another’s burdens, we are in that moment doing, that is fulfilling, what Christ has clearly demonstrated in His life and teachings as the purposes, standards, and commands of God, and as such, we are in that moment living His life! We are living in what He has brought us! We are not simply obeying a rule, we are basking in the eternal life that is God Himself.
So, with that understanding of the Law of Christ and what it means to fulfill it, let’s go back to that command Paul says exemplifies it; that puts everything into one thing.
The second part of Galatians 6:2 that I want us to look at is actually the first part of the verse.
THE EXEMPLARY COMMAND - “BEAR ONE ANOTHER’S BURDENS”
Galatians 6:2 spells out four expectations grace creates as it relates to the burdens of life. In relation to the burdens of life, the first expectation grace creates for us is that,
(1) Grace expects us to look for and see that which is crushing the life out of those around us, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Grace doesn’t justify us having an expectation that others look for and see our burdens, but rather that we should look for and see the burdens in others. As such, you can’t bear what you cannot see, and you generally don’t find what you don’t know to look for, or don’t care to look for. We are naturally oblivious to what other people are going through, therefore for us to obey this command we have to have a mindset that is intentionally looking to see what’s crushing the life out of others!
For instance, we try to teach our kids to not just open a door and walk through it, but as they go through the door, to care enough to look behind them to make sure it’s not going to shut right in somebody’s face. If you don’t care enough to take the quarter-second to turn your head and look, then it’s likely you also wouldn’t care to notice if a person was right behind you with their arms full of stuff; a person that could truly use a little help! If all you're concerned about is yourself, then you likely have no thought about checking behind you as you let go of a door.
Now, let’s be clear, I’m not saying to get out the binoculars Jason brought on stage last week and get all up in your neighbor’s business, but rather be motivated by how much Christ cares for you and your burdens, that you care enough to look for the burdens in other people’s lives, especially those in your family and church!
But what exactly is a burden? Even if you care to find something, it’s still hard to if you don’t know what it is! Listen to what some scholars wrote about the Greek word translated as “burdens” in Galatians 6:2.
T. Robertson wrote that the Greek word for “burden,” “It is when one’s load is about to press one down.”5Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Ga 6:2). Nashville, TN: Broadman Press.
J. Utley wrote, “Burden” was used of a crushing weight put on a domestic pack animal.”6Utley, R. J. (1997). Paul’s First Letters: Galatians and I & II Thessalonians (Vol. Volume 11, p. 64). Marshall, TX: Bible Lessons International.
R. Vincent wrote, “The primary reference in burdens is to moral infirmities and errors, and the sorrow and shame and remorse which they awaken in the offender.”7Vincent, M. R. (1887). Word studies in the New Testament (Vol. 4, p. 172). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Finally, D. K. Campbell wrote, “Though the principle would apply to all burdens the context has special reference to the heavy and oppressive weight of temptation and spiritual failure."8Campbell, D. K. (1985). Galatians. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures(Vol. 2, p. 609). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
Because of the previous verse, many authors want to limit the concept of burdens to being caught in sin, however, such limitations are not necessary either by the passage or the rest of the Scripture. Certainly, sin is the greatest and most destructive burden in our life and it's why Christ came to set us free from it! However, if you read the Bible, especially the Gospels, we can safely say we should be looking for anything and everything that crushes the life out of those around us. Here are some examples of things other than sin that crushes the life out of people:
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- Grief from the death of a loved one.
- Heartbreak of a broken relationship.
- Betrayal by a loved one.
- Unjust treatment.
- The rebellion of a child living a foolish life.
- Unfortunate circumstances out of a person’s control.
- Unfortunate circumstances that were caused by the person.
- Sickness.
- Financial crisis.
- Lack of genuine relationships with others.
So first we need to care enough to look for and see what’s crushing others, but the command clearly doesn’t stop there. In relation to the burdens of life, the second expectation grace creates for us is that,
(2) Grace expects us to help others hold up the weight that is crushing the life out of them.
Note: To bear a burden is not to take it from them but it is to take it with them.
After God parted the Red Sea and Moses led the people of Israel across it on dry land, God then closed the Red Sea on top of Pharaoh’s army that was pursuing them and as such totally destroyed them. However, this was by no means the last time Israel was going to see an intimidating enemy coming against them. Not long after they crossed the Red Sea another army came to destroy them. Exodus 17 says,
8 Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to Joshua, "Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand." 10 So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. (Exodus 17:8-11)
Ok, so let’s stop right there. CLEARLY, the greatest physical burden was the burden of the soldier in hand-to-hand combat fighting for his life. The only physical burden Moses had was holding up his arms with a staff. Now that may seem like a simple thing compared to the guys fighting for their lives, but it doesn’t matter how simple the action is nor the lack of personal loss of life involved, Moses was an old guy and these battles generally took a long time! So, no matter the simplicity and lack of personal threat to Moses, what he’s got to do isn’t easy. BUT then you add in the knowledge of what happens if he lowers his arms and all of sudden the weight of his task becomes emotionally crushing because Moses simply can’t hold that staff over his head continually. I can only imagine the emotional torture Moses felt when his arms finally gave out and he then witnessed his brothers getting slaughtered. So, what happened next was no small matter at all. The Bible says,
12 But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. (Exodus 17:8-13)
The burden you help somebody bear may not seem like much on the surface but who knows when you’re doing something as simple and non-dangerous as holding up Moses' arms, in doing so you are bearing the greatest emotional weight anybody could ever imagine, and as such, you're helping save the life being crushed in somebody! This example actually takes us straight to the third expectation grace creates for us in the context of the burdens of life.
(3) Grace expects us to keep bearing the burdens of others until they are no longer burdens.
Aaron and Hur didn’t just give Moses a brief break, they held his arms up until the sun went down and the battle was won!
Likewise, the verb tense of “bearing” in Galatians 6:2 implies a burden-bearing that keeps on bearing until the burden is lifted. Jesus did not halfway bear the penalty of our sin; he bore it to completion. The Holy Spirit is not partially bearing our burden of sin but is committed to continually labor to lead us from sin and into God’s life until Jesus comes back and transforms us! He will never not be with us in this life, no matter what we are going through. Jesus promised that!
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. (John 14:16-17)
God’s grace never runs out! He will never give up on us. Paul was so certain of this characteristic of God he wrote this to the believers in Philippi,
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)
Ruth meant what she said that day. She didn’t quit. She stuck with Naomi for the rest of her life, and along the way, she married a man named Boaz. Boaz and Ruth then conceived a child that they dedicated to continuing the name of Elimelech, and as such fulfilled the longing of Naomi to provide an heir for her dead husband. It was a burden that both Ruth and Boaz gladly bore for Naomi to its completion, and they never looked back. So much of the story in the book of Ruth points us to is the long haul of the kind burden bearing that reflects the character and nature of God and his grace - from Ruth’s blind faith to live out her life serving Naomi even if that meant her staying a widow, to working as a slave gleaning in the fields, to Boaz making the financial sacrifice to purchase land that would ultimately not be for him, to impregnating his wife Ruth with a son that he would literally labor to raise so that the son (Obed) would carry forth another man’s name and legacy that Boaz had to pay for. All of it points us straight to the characteristic of God’s Grace towards us that obligates all who have been blessed with His life to carry the burden of others all the way to the end!
There are many examples of this characteristic of God’s life shining through in the testimonies of His people in the Bible, but perhaps none is more beautiful than the story of Ruth. Earlier this year we walked through the entire book of Ruth so I’m not going to repeat the entire series to you, but for those who are new to the Bible or missed it, let me just highlight why I said that.
A Jewish woman named Naomi left Bethlehem with her husband to move into the land of their crazy Satan-worshiping cousins (the Moabites) because the city of Bread (Bethlehem) had run out of bread! Sadly, sometime after arriving in Moab her husband died, but at least she had two sons to provide for her. Both of these sons ended up marrying a Moabite woman, one of whom married a Moabite woman named Ruth. Neither wife was able to conceive with their husband and later both of Naomi’s sons died. The death of Naomi’s sons left her with no male provider, and to her greatest concern, because of her age, there was no longer a realistic solution to provide an heir for her dead husband.
Land was everything to the Jews and there were all kinds of laws to keep it in a family’s possession, but that’s all for nothing if there are no eligible heirs in a family! Defeated and absolutely broken, Naomi decided to go back to Bethlehem to make the best of whatever life she had left to live. She even eventually told her two daughters-in-law that were traveling back with her, to instead go back to Moab and find a Moabite husband so they could start their lives over while they were still young. One daughter-in-law went back, but Ruth refused. She was all in to bear the crushing weight of life God had placed on Naomi, and as such, the Bible says,
16 But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you." (Ruth 1:16-17)
The command to bear one another’s burdens is a long-haul command, not a short-term fix to tell yourself and others you are a good person. This takes us to the last expectation grace creates for us in the context of the burdens of life.
(4) Grace is not an excuse to reject the help of others, but rather an encouragement to accept it.
To “Bear one another’s burdens” includes letting others bear my burdens with me! It’s the hardest thing for us control freaks to do. It’s the hardest thing for those of us to do who want everybody to think we are big enough and strong enough to handle everything ourselves.
One of the burdens placed on a Jewish homeowner was to provide a servant to wash the feet of those who came for certain feasts like the Passover. Foot washing was an entrenched part of the culture, but it was also considered one of the lowliest jobs a person could do. People wore sandals and walked on streets filled with the feces of animals that walked up and down those streets, not to mention the basic filth that gets all over your feet when you walk around with sandals on. As such, there are three stories of foot washing in the Gospels that are of note.
In Luke 7:36-50 a sinful woman of the city, presumably a prostitute, found Jesus eating dinner at the house of a Pharisee, one of the most respected people in the town. She walked right over to Jesus and cleaned his feet with her tears and hair. She kissed his feet and anointed them with oil. However, in this story, Jesus was heavily criticized for allowing an unclean sinful woman to touch Him, and of course, Jesus responded by not only applauding what the woman had done but also announcing her sins had been forgiven. There’s so much to talk about in that story but what I want you to hear is that Jesus let her serve Him. Jesus didn’t care about the perception of her being a sinner, He didn’t pull his feet away from one He considered to be unworthy to touch Him or would damage His reputation with religious people for letting her touch Him, but instead, He allowed her to serve Him the only righteous way she knew and that was by washing his feet with her own tears and hair.
In John 12:1-8 we see another woman clean the feet of Jesus with her own hair. Mary, the sister of Martha, took a pound of one of the most expensive ointments in Judah, and not only anointed Jesus with it, but she also wiped his feet with her hair. This time the complaint was not about the person serving Jesus, but what she used. Judas was irate that she had used the ointment on Jesus instead of selling it and donating the money to their ministry, which of course was intended to cover up for his real motive. The ointment was worth 300 days of work by the average laborer, therefore, in a culture with a six-day workweek, that’s basically an entire year’s worth of work! John tells us Judas was overseeing the money donated to the ministry, and he also tells us Judas was stealing some for himself! As such, Judas’s real motive in protesting what Mary did, had to do more with the potential amount of money he could have taken from the ministry! However, the key thing I want you to hear about this story is that once again Jesus didn’t push away somebody who wanted to serve Him, even when that service was awkwardly expensive. Imagine if the trustees of Venture bought something and dumped it over my head that cost the same amount of money that you earned in a year! It would make me feel awkward and it would likely make you mad! You may not have intended on stealing that money from the church, but I bet you would feel robbed! But nonetheless, despite all the awkwardness, Jesus let her serve Him the way she genuinely longed to do, and that was in the most humble way she could and with the most expensive thing she probably had access to.
Finally, in John 13 Jesus washes the feet of the disciples despite the protest of Peter who insists Jesus is too important to do such an activity, and as such, they are not worthy enough to have their feet washed by Him. However, Jesus rebukes Peter. John records, “8 Peter said to him, "You shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me." (John 13:8) The point again I’m making here is that Peter’s pride didn’t want Jesus to wash his feet. Peter didn’t want the one who he saw as his hero, as a celebrity, as the one getting ready to sit on the throne, to also be known as the one who washed people’s feet. But Jesus told him he had better get over his pride and let Him wash his feet or he would have no share in the Kingdom of Christ!
The point in sharing those examples of serving is not the serving but the grace to receive it. If Jesus can have his feet washed by a woman that others view as a disgrace; if Jesus can let a woman put a pound of crazy expensive oil all over His feet that would then walk back across the filthy ground; if Peter was told he needed to get over the humiliation of the one he rightly saw as King washing his feet, then you and I need to get over the pride of letting others serve us as well! We need to get over the foolish pride of acting as if we don’t need others to help carry the burdens of life; we need to get over the foolish pride that rejects the person who has come with a sincere heart to serve Christ through serving you in a meaningful and sacrificial way.
The following are four examples of types of burden-bearing that match the context of the serious burdens in Galatians 6:2:
(1) Emotional burden-bearing is listening and feeling with somebody who is under a crushing emotional weight.
(2) Physical burden bearing is helping people accomplish the physical tasks they can’t do on their own.
(3) Financial burden-bearing is providing people with money to help them through a serious financial crisis.
(4) Spiritual burden-bearing is all that is involved in helping a person who is drowning in sin to truly repent and experience life in Christ.
Challenge
You can’t help bear everybody’s burdens. However, are you sneaking away from the people God has uniquely placed in your life to help them carry a crushing weight?
Burden bearing isn’t tracking burdens, it's joining people in the burden they are bearing. But even in that, you can’t bear burdens with everybody. As a Pastor, I feel the burden of that all the time. I truly want to help everybody. I’m not trying to build myself up at all, it's just how God has wired me. I see the lostness and brokenness in our society and I want to see everybody freed from it! As such, Keri has to remind me all the time that I’m not Jesus and I can’t help everybody, if for no other reason than when you try to help everybody you end up helping nobody, most noticeably the people closest to you.
Now on the other side of that righteous passion within me to help everybody, is a sinful motive as well. Our sinful nature twists everything up and that includes a righteous passion to see everybody abounding in the life of Christ. You see, it’s easier to help a lot of people a little than it is to help a few people a lot. Ironically, there’s more glory in helping a lot with a little. Even more ironically it actually takes a lot less discipline and sacrifice to help a lot of people with a little, than it does to help a few people with a lot. So, one of the best ways to sneak out of helping truly bear a serious weight in the life of those you’re closest to is to get lost in carrying a little weight for a few moments in the life of a lot of different people, rather than help sustain the heavy weight of a few people for a long time.
The fact of the matter is a pastor in a church must do both and it’s also why we are so big on life groups. There is a role for the person who shows up to give short-term support in a burden. That support can provide direction and relief but it’s intended to “triage” a burden and then connect them with somebody else in the body who will long haul it with them. This is the entire point of Ephesians 4 and equipping the body for the work of the ministry and thus why our Life Group ministry is the most important ministry in the church. It's where people can see your burdens and it's where you build relationships with people who can bear it with you. Nonetheless, in pastoral ministry, we are still tempted to run towards a little with a lot, so that we can hide from doing a lot with a little because a lot with a little is a lot harder!
So church, examine your own life and understand that as you do a lot with a little you are fulfilling the law of Christ! The glory is not to those who do a little for a lot, but rather to those who are willing to do a lot for a little. Are you sneaking away from the burdens of the little God has placed in your life or are you embracing the ministry of burden-bearing that God has placed right beside you, the one that’s right in front of you desperately needing your help?
I don’t know how to tell you to figure out who you are supposed to help, its one of the hardest questions in my ministry, so I get it for sure, but I am still very much asking you if you are sneaking away from those you know you’re supposed to be helping! Are you simply ducking out of the expectation Christ’s grace has clearly placed on us or are you using smoke and mirrors to make it look like you’re bearing the weight of life with others, all while you really aren’t doing much of anything?
Discussion Guide for This Sermon.
Disclaimer: When Austin is speaking about the story of Ruth, he mixed up names while speaking on it. When he talks about Ruth bearing the burdens of Orpah, he meant to say Naomi.